In early 2004 the Urban Institute released the findings from a national study of volunteer management capacity among charities and congregations conducted for the Corporation for National and Community Service with involvement of the UPS Foundation and the USA Freedom Corps.

The four-part study is a product of the Institute's Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, which over the last few years has been doing much of the work in this country helping to increase understanding of the scope and dimensions of the nonprofit sector, its importance to our society and our economy.

The study is based on a representative sample of 1,753 charities, drawn from the more than 200,000 charities that filed their annual paperwork with the IRS in 2000. It also includes information from congregations, representing the 380,000 congregations (of all faiths) identified by American Church Lists. Because the organizations interviewed reflect the characteristics of these populations of charities and congregations, the results can be used to describe current overall conditions in these organizations.